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When the Colby Fire started burning up the hillsides above Azusa and Glendora, the main priority for the first responders was the residents’ safety. It wasn’t until the days and weeks after that each agency and city started tallying up the costs of fighting the fire and protecting the homes in the foothills from the rainstorms that would trigger several debris and mudflows through the communities.

Joe Rocha was in a trance. The Azusa mayor was standing at Vosburg Drive and Sierra Madre Avenue in the early morning hours, woken up by a phone call letting him know there was a fire in the neighboring city.

For Azusa and Glendora residents, the repercussions of that cold and windy Jan. 16, 2014, will last for years to come. But the three men convicted of starting the Colby Fire are looking to move on, with appeals filed for two of the three defendants on the felony conviction and the multimillion-dollar restitution order.

While most foothill residents were taking a breath Thursday afternoon as the Colby Fire’s spread slowed to a crawl, Glendora city officials stayed busy, working the phones and calling neighboring cities for advice on what to do after a wildfire.

The “Pineapple Express” is expected to chug back into Southern California Monday delivering three storms this week with rain, lower temperatures and possibly dusting local mountains with snow, the National Weather Service said.

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning drenched parts of the Southland early Friday morning as a storm passed through. In Glendora, police said about two feet of mud went through a garage in an area that was affected last year by the Colby Fire.

LOS ANGELES >> U.S. District Court Judge George Wu on Monday sentenced Clifford Henry Jr. to six months in federal prison, while co-defendant Steven Aguirre received five months for their roles in sparking the 1,952-acre Colby Fire on Jan.

A federal jury on Thursday convicted the last of three suspects charged with starting the damaging Colby Fire above Glendora early this year, as officials cautioned that a looming storm poses a potential debris flow threat to the barren hillsides created by the wildfire.

LOS ANGELES >> The last suspect accused of setting the 1,952-acre Colby Fire will be tried this week. The trial for 23-year-old Jonathan Jarrell is scheduled to begin Tuesday at a Los Angeles federal court.

LOS ANGELES >> Two men were convicted Friday of starting an illegal campfire that sparked the Jan. 16 Colby Fire which charred 1,952 acres, injured six people and destroyed five homes. Clifford Eugene Henry, 22, of Glendora and 21-year-old transient Steven Robert Aguirre were found guilty of setting fire to timber, grass and underbrush in the Angeles National Forest by building a campfire; violating a fire restriction order by using a fire outside a recreation site in the forest; causing timber, trees, brush and grass to burn in the forest without a permit; and causing and failing to maintain control of a Jan.

LOS ANGELES >> Opening statements and evidence were presented before a federal court judge Wednesday in the trial of two of the three men suspected in the January Colby Fire that burned 1,952 acres of Angeles National Forest, destroyed five homes and injured six people.

LOS ANGELES >> Three men accused of starting the massive Colby Fire, that blackened 1,952 acres, injured six people and destroyed five homes, claimed innocence during an arraignment in Los Angeles federal court on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES >> As authorities declared the Colby Fire fully contained, a grand jury on Friday indicted three men for allegedly starting two illegal campfires in the Angeles National Forest. The second campfire turned into a wildfire that devoured 1,952 acres, injured six people and destroyed five homes.

LOS ANGELES >> A federal judge on Friday ordered one of the men accused of starting the Colby Fire to be held without bail. One of the factors the court considered in holding Jonathan Jarrell, one of the three suspects accused of helping to spark the Colby Fire, was a prior incident of an alleged accidental fire in Louisiana he was involved in.

LOS ANGELES >> As firefighters closed on full containment of the Colby Fire, the three men accused of starting an illegal campfire that erupted into an inferno made their first appearance Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court.

LOS ANGELES >> A federal prosecutor on Tuesday filed a felony charge against three men accused of setting a campfire that grew and devoured 1,952 acres in the hills above Glendora and Azusa, injured six people, destroyed five homes and 10 other structures and forced thousands to evacuate.

Firefighters have built containment lines around 78 percent of the four-day-old Colby Fire burning in the foothills above Azusa and Glendora, authorities announced Sunday. Officials also updated the damage toll.

Firefighters continued strengthening containment lines around the 1,906-acre Colby Fire smoldering in the foothills at the northern edge of the San Gabriel Valley Saturday as the last remaining evacuees from Azusa received word they could return home.

AZUSA — Slackening winds in the mountains, heavy smoke from the Colby Fire and stagnant air in the basin prompted warnings from health officials today. Air quality levels crept below the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” level in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys today, according to the South Coast Air Management District.

The Colby Fire’s lore has transitioned from an exciting battle to a prolonged war. Much of the enthusiasm surrounding the first night at base camp on Thursday was lost in Friday night’s darkness as parts of the San Gabriel Mountains glowed orange for a second straight night.

As firefighters struggle to contain a wildfire started by an illegal campfire, the ensuing destruction of homes, forest lands and the temporary displacement of thousands of foothill residents may have left a wider and, some say, more dangerous impact.

GLENDORA>> All day Thursday, Linda and George Peterson watched their house anxiously from the Village Eatery restaurant in the Glendora Village, desperately hoping to hear some good news. But Friday morning, Linda wept as firefighters bulldozed the last standing walls of their former home.

The 1,709-acre Colby Fire that swept through the hills above Glendora this week burned destroyed five homes, damaged 17 others and forced the evacuation of 4,000 residents. It also sent scores of homeowners scrambling to take inventory of their insurance coverage.

LOS ANGELES - A red flag warning signifying a high risk of wildfire because of high winds, low humidity and tinder-dry vegetation was in effect in the Greater Los Angeles area Friday for the fifth straight day.

As the sun threw its first rays over Southern California this morning, firefighters emerged from tents pitched in a field near the Santa Fe Dam and begin preparing for a second day of battle against the Colby Fire.

Glendora Police have taken three people into custody in connection with a 1,700-acre brush fire that ignited in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora early Thursday. To see Los Angeles News Group video coverage click

GLENDORA -- The most recent major fire to char the chaparral slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains above Glendora was the Williams Fire of late September and early October 2002. The fire began near a camp in the East Fork of the San Gabriel River and burned south over the top of the mountains and threatened the slopes above Glendora and La Verne.

Numerous Inland Empire firefighters have been called to assist in the 1,700-acre Colby Fire north of Glendora. In addition to Cal Fire Riverside firefighters, Redlands and San Bernardino County fire departments have sent personnel.

Acres burned: 1,700 Damage: An unknown number of structures have burned. Containment: 0% Evacuated areas: Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Easley Canyon, San Gabriel Canyon Road, as well as areas west of Glendora Boulevard, east of Azusa Avenue and north of Sierra Madre Boulevard.

A massive plume of smoke and ash, visible from space, rained down on Southern California Thursday, prompting warnings about unhealthy air quality and highlighting the danger of an unprecedented drought.

LONG BEACH >> The Long Beach Fire Department sent a strike team to help battle the Colby Fire in the hills above Glendora, officials said Thursday. “A strike team consists of a battalion chief and five engines,” said Will Nash, spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

GLENDORA>> As thick smoke made a clear view difficult, Linda Peterson pointed to a structure peeking out over the top of a hill; she could barely make out the outline of the roof of her house, but the sight gave her comfort.

GLENDORA >> Three men accused of lighting a campfire that grew into the destructive Colby Fire were behind bars with bail amounts of $500,000 each late Thursday, officials said. Clifford Eugene Henry, 22, of Glendora, Jonathan Carl Jarrell, 23, of Irwindale and Steven Robert Aguirre, 21, a transient whose last known address was in Los Angeles, were booked on suspicion of unlawfully causing a fire of a structure or forest land, Glendora police Lt.

GLENDORA >> It’s very scary to be hearing helicopters and sirens at six. But it happened this morning. I live at the top of Grand Avenue, just south of Sierra Madre Avenue. Ordinarily, it’s a lovely, established, sedate neighborhood.

Southland residents awoke Thursday morning to a massive wildfire that burned through 1,700 acres of brush, injured two people, destroyed two homes, caused the evacuation of more than 1,000 people and resulted in the

EVACUATIONS: Mandatory evacuations remained in effect in Azusa, Mandatory evacuations were lifted late Thursday in Glendora. Evacuations remained in effect in Azusa for the more than 800 homes north of Sierra Madre Boulevard between Azusa Avenue and the east end of the city.

Among the 800 fire personnel battling the raging Colby fire are 27 Los Angeles County Inmate Firefighters. “They’ve been there since this morning and are an important part of the firefighting efforts,” Nicole Nishida, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said Thursday.

Dry brush and stiff winds early Thursday combined to turn a disheveled trio’s campfire into a raging 1,700-acre blaze north of Glendora that caused injuries, property damage, the evacuations of thousands and closure of several schools.